Page 76 of The Viper

“Why not?”

“I don’t have anything to use to clean, or mop, or vacuum.”

“I have it all. My cleaner uses all my things which keeps her price down.”

“A hundred dollars to clean your bathrooms, vacuum and mop is reasonable?” I’m in the wrong business.

“That’s what I pay her.”

I have to wonder if a hundred dollars is what she pays her cleaner, or if that’s what she’s offering me to do the work because she knows I need money. I think it’s the latter, but at least I’ll be doing something for the money and I won’t be taking charity. “How many bathrooms do you have?”

“Three. Two full bathrooms and a half bath. It should take you about two to three hours to clean them, and do the floors.”

Seriously, three hours for a hundred bucks. I offer Evelyn a kind smile. “Thank you, I appreciate it. When do you want me to do it?”

“Let me see.” She opens her laptop and clicks on it. “You have a shift tomorrow, but not the next day. How about then?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I’ll give you my address tomorrow. There’s a bus stop about a five-minute walk from my house.”

I already feel so much better. That’s an extra one hundred dollars a week for three weeks. I can do this for Eliza and me. I stand to my feet and smile broadly. “Thank you, Evelyn.”

“You’re doing me a favor, since it means I don’t have to do it. So thank you.”

A part of my soul is rejuvenated. Perhaps this isn’t as hopeless as I had convinced myself. “Thank you,” I repeat before leaving so I can start my shift.

Abbie is at the counter, Finn is making coffees, and we have a small queue of five people waiting. “Rose,” Abbie calls me over.

“Do you want me on the counter, or do you want to stay and I can serve?” I look behind me toward the kitchen passthrough, and see there are three plates sitting there waiting.

“I’ll stay if you can serve.”

“Sure thing.” I walk over to the pass-through and see Brendan and Jack in the kitchen. “Hey,” I greet them as I grab the three plates.

“Hey, Rose,” Brendan acknowledges. Jack is on the grill and not really listening.

I look at the table these plates are going to, and begin to walk over. Once I’ve placed all the food down, I see two tables that are dirty. I stack the plates and glance out to the road. The black car is back, but it’s down the road so I can’t be sure it’s the same car from the motel. My throat constricts as I find myself leaving the tables and walking outside to see if the tags match up.

“What the fuck is going on?” I ask myself as I look for traffic before jogging across the road to check out the car.

“Rose!” Abbie calls from the door. I turn to see her motioning for me to return. I look to the car, then back to Abbie. I abandon the idea of confronting whoever it is and return to work. “You can’t just leave,” she says.

“I’m sorry, I thought I saw someone I knew,” I lie.

“It doesn’t matter.” She points to the dirty tables. “It’s not fair to us for you to just leave.”

Whatever.

I head in to clean the tables, but keep a careful eye on the car. The shift goes by fairly fast, and just when it begins to get quiet, we get another rush of people. “Rose, can you take over on the coffee machine, I need to go to the bathroom,” Finn says.

“Yeah, give me a minute.” I finish wiping down the table I’ve just cleared, and look up to see the sleek car still sitting across the street. I’ll wait until it’s quiet and go out there. I need to know who it is. I wash my hands and stand next to Finn.

“Thank you. I’m just finishing this latte.”

“Sure.” He hands the jug over to me to finish frothing the milk.

I’m lost in the coffee orders when Finn returns. “Thanks for that.”

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